The World of Swords: Unbound
by theNoviceNerd
Summary: An SAO OC fiction. Klaire is a girl whose only goal is to survive until the end, but an unlikely series event is going to change her forever. Her journey is unlike any other the world will never know. This is my first story in which i try to explore whatever is on my mind.
1. Chapter 1: Deadly Angel

**Deadly angel on floor 58**

 _"If you die in game, you die in real_ life."

"Ahhh", Klaire woke up screaming, she hated those words, they gave her nightmares. She was sweating from the fear. Even in the virtual world the touch and smells of her body were present. She had been stuck in Sword Art Online, along with the two thousand or so remaining players for almost a year. In that time they all had only managed to clear fifty-seven floors.  
"Get going Klaire" she told herself. She rolled lazily out of bed and began equipping her armor. Soul crystal boots, equip, skyline greaves, equip, soul crystal cuirass, equip, skyline gauntlets, equip, skyline diadem, equip, Bāsākā no rongusōdo… "Berserker Longsword"…, why did this sword not agree with her? It was a long, single edged, electric blue blade with what appeared to be, bronze colored dragon-like scales around an amber spherical crystal that reminded Klaire of a dragon's eye, near the hilt. It was incredibly powerful but didn't quite suit her style, its bulk slowed her down not that she was much of a fighter anyway. Kaiyōchōseki… "Ocean Tide"…, equip.  
"Alright everyone, let's get going", Shouted out their guild leader, Jensen.  
"Ugh, glad to see at least someone is bright and cheery." The half-asleep Klaire moaned with excessive sarcasm.  
"What are you talking about? You're the only sourpuss here" Noted Kamina, as he snuck up behind her. Kamina was probably the most infuriating person Klaire knew, but he was far from useless. He was the guild's go to spy and information broker. Physically he was slightly taller than she was but also thinner, he used a knife in combat although it was well known that he was crazy enough to use his bare fists. Klaire suspected that he was also a little overly fond of his armor that showcased his lithe, though still muscular upper body.  
"Shut up Kamina" she said as she picked up a bun, shoved it in her mouth and headed towards the door.

/floor 58 dungeon; 2 hours later /

Kamina: "That's almost everywhere, just a few more areas and this map data is going to make us a killing!"  
Jensen: "good to hear Kamina. Ok let's finish the dungeon up and find the boss room."  
Klaire: "Brr, this place gives me the creeps."  
Kamina: "what's the matter? Need a strong man keep you safe?" he asked as he caught up to her.  
Klaire: "I don't need you if that's what you're suggesting."  
Kamina: "Jeeeez. No need to be so harsh."  
Klaire: "Whatever. Let's just finish the map and get back to a safe zone. I hate dungeons…"  
Kamina: "It's not exactly the dungeons is it?"  
Klaire: "No."

 **Vvvvvv Vvvvvvvvv Vvvvvvv.** (Alarms ringing).

"Raghhhhhh!" (Skeletal golem x70 appear)

Klaire: "What's that?!"  
Kamina: "EVERYONE, CHECK YOUR TELEPORT CRYSTALS!"  
Guild member: "They're not working!?"  
Kamina: "Damn it. IT'S A TRAP! EVERYONE STAY TOGETHER!"  
Klaire: "I thought that traps in the middle of dungeons were impossible?"  
Kamina: "Just because it has never happened doesn't mean it can't."

... Fighting ensues...

"Ugaahhhh" and "Ahaaaahhhh" was all Klaire heard from her dying friends as she continued to defend herself. It felt as if all she could do was watch while their virtual bodies broke apart into data. _"If you die in game, you die in real life"_ were the only words that passed through her mind; reminding her of just how real the danger was.  
'Thhhaaaafffffft', it took Klaire a second to realize that a golem had hit her, and rather hard at that. As she pulled herself off the earthen floor she glanced at her health gauge… when had it gotten so low?! The little bar was near empty; she didn't have time to use one of her healing crystals: one more hit would finish her. She called out "Kamina!" as she weakly raised Kaiyōchōseki to defend herself. With tears streaming from her eyes, she said to herself "This is it; I'm going to die…" but as her eyes squeezed shut a whisper in her head said " ** _It's my turn, Give me control._** "  
" _Who are- who are you?_ " her inner voice trailing off.  
" **That's not important now, give me control.** "  
" _Control? Control of what?_ "  
" ** _Our body dumbass! If you haven't forgotten we're kind of about to get killed!_** " Klaire could feel the voice's intensity, like a pair of eyes staring daggers into her soul.  
" _Alright_ " not like Klaire had many other choices. " _But tell me your name first._ " She quickly added.  
" ** _My name is Blake._** "  
Klaire didn't know what Blake's story was nor did she have time to listen, she would just have to trust her.  
For Blake shifting control over their body was like changing a pair of panties in a public bathroom: it was just a bit awkward. Sensations aside, as soon as Klaire's eyes completely squeezed shut, she opened them with full control over their body. As much as she would have liked to adjust to the world around her, the nearest golem was raising its arm for the finishing blow. " **Rrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaah.** " She screamed while marking the golem's chest with a large 'X', to which it exploded into pixels and data. " **OK let's trash the rest of these things!** " the next ten minutes seemed to blur, Blake slashed down every nearby golem, trying her absolute hardest to save the remaining players. Everything was fine, her health had regenerated into yellow- near green levels, until the durability on Kaiyōchōseki hit zero and the sword suffered the same fate of the golems. From inside her head Klaire shouted " _Watch out!_ "  
'Whooooommm!' Blake knew that had she not dogged, she would have taken direct hit. 'Whooooommm!', 'Whooooommm!', 'Whooooommm!'  
" _There's another sword in my inventory, grab it!_ " Klaire's mental voice rang out.  
Bāsākā no rongusōdo… equip.  
" **Now we're talking, this is a real sword!** " said Blake who was grinning like a mad woman.  
" _It's too heavy for me_ " Klaire moaned.  
" ** _Sucks to be you then._** " Blake shot back. Blake couldn't have cared less if the sword was too heavy for Klaire; Klaire could kiss her ass, it was perfect for her and that was all that mattered. Slash, slash, swing, dodge, slash, and stab. Blake just kept going, there was nothing that could have stopped her, if a golem tried to attack then she would cut it down with a single swing of her blade. She was like a dancing angel, a deadly dancing angel. Within a few minutes there were no golem left to hurt any of the surviving members.  
After sifting through the battle rewards and claiming her 'sword fragments', Blake called out: " **is everyone alright?** " She and Klaire could both see that everyone was shaken from the encounter.  
"We're ok" someone shouted off to their left.  
" **Ok, let's forget about the map data and just get out of here.** " Naturally Blake didn't hear anyone argue.

/ Klaire's room at the Guild hall; 2 days later /

'Knock, Knock, Knock'.

Klaire: "Come in."  
Kamina: "You o.k.? You've been clammed up for the last two days." His eyes looked at her with concerned expression.  
Klaire: "I'm fine." She wished that were true though.  
Kamina: "Ok, I'll take your word on that. Come on I'll buy the three of us dinner."  
Klaire: "Three of us?" Kamina: "don't play dumb with me. I saw you the other day. You were like a completely different person."  
Klaire: "How do you know that?"  
Kamina: "One: you were smiling like a maniac in the middle of a battle."  
Kamina: "Two: you switched suddenly switched from defending to attacking for no apparent reason."  
Kamina: "And three: you used Bāsākā no rongusōdo when you always say that you hate that sword."  
Klaire had to admit that he was right. Since they had returned to her room, Klaire had been trying to understand what had happened and trying to deny Blake's existence inside her mind. She could tell that Blake was a bit unstable sometimes. Blake had been arguing with her as well, which didn't make things much better. Klaire felt just a little overwhelmed.  
Kamina: "Listen, I'm not trying to make you admit to anything, everyone is just concerned that's all."  
Klaire: "I don't want to talk about it, but you're right I should stop making everyone worry."  
Kamina: "Glad you see it my way, big tits."  
Klaire: " **KAMMIINAAAA!** " the veins on her forehead with rage. Kamina just smiled with a mischievous grin on his face and bolted towards the stairs.  
Blake: " ** _Is he always like that?_** "  
Klaire: " _It's usually worse_ "  
Blake: " ** _In that case, do you want to punch his face in or can I?_** "  
Klaire: " _Oooohhh no, this one is all mine._ "  
Klaire: " _Blake._ "  
Blake: " ** _Yea?_** "  
Klaire: " _Glad you're always gonna be with me._ "  
Blake: " ** _Not like we can have it other way._** "  
The two of them took off not knowing what else would happen. The only certainty in their future was that they were going to beat Kamina senseless.


	2. Chapter 2: Syndicate P1

Syndicate: part 1

Click, click, click, click, click, click, clack. Blake came to stop. The virtual moon light, illuminating the area.

 **"So this is where those bastards are supposedly hiding."** She said. The woods that sprawled out before her were foggy and dark, not to mention expansive.

 ** _"You're sure this is the place to start looking?"_** She asked Klaire, who was staying on the edge of their shared conscious.

 _"Kamina was fairly certain on his information. It's not like he's out to have us murdered."_ Klaire replied with a bit of her newly found attitude.

 **"All right, let's go."**

-Two weeks ago-

Clarkson: "We're off. Smell you guys later" Clarkson called out as he waved good bye; his jagged, bright red sword on his : "Where are they going?" Klaire asked Kamina as she sat down with him at one of the guild tables. As much as she hated the amount of sexual harassment that came out of his mouth, Kamina wasn't a bad guy.

Kamina: "They're off to train in the next floor dungeon."

Klaire: "Is that a great idea considering what happened that one time where..."

Kamina: "I don't blame you for being skeptical, but I think they'll be ok. They've really been hauling their asses since the incident. Of course it has made some of the players in higher ranking guilds jealous."

Klaire: "I just hope them working so hard and finding so many rare items isn't making enemies."

Kamina: "yea me too. Come on I have friend I want you to meet."

Klaire: "Oh, you mean the blacksmith who you think can fix my sword?"

Kamina: "That's the one."

/ floor 58, 40 minutes later /

Maricia: "Wow you really broke this thing. You said that it broke while fending off monsters?"

Klaire: "Yea... I was kinda busy trying not to die."

Maricia: "Well you're just lucky you had another sword with you."

Kamina: "I'd say we were all lucky that she was there."

Maricia: "Well, I can fix it but it's gonna take some time."

Klaire: "That's alright and thank you for trying to repair it."

Maricia: "No problem. Just explain one thing too me."

Klaire: "What's that?"

Maricia: "How did you end up with a pervert like Kamina?"

Kamina: "Well you see…"

Blake: **"I swear if you say anything I'll send you flying off of Aincrad head first!"**

Kamina: "Alright, alright, alright, don't get your titties in a bunch."

Blake: "KAMINNNNAAAAAAAAA! I swear I'm going to kill you! Get back here! Kamina!"

Maricia: "Eeeeeehhhhhhh... Okay I'm gonna go."

As Maricia retreated to her back room Kamina and Klaire both got a message. Blake released Kamina's neck from the choke hold and listened as he opened and read the message.

Kamina: "Get back to the guild hall now! Problem with dungeon party.

Jensen,"

Klaire: "sounds serious."

Kamina: "MARICIA WE GOT TO GO! WE'LL TALK LATER!" He shouted dragging Klaire out the door in a

hurry.

/Guild Hall, 30 minutes later/

As Klaire walk into the central hall she could tell something was off. Everyone who wasn't grouping up with the expression that they wanted to murder someone was staring into space with a shocked expression. Their leader, Jensen, approached the two of them with a terrifying scowl on his face; no doubt an expression of trying to mask pure rage. Despite is anger, his stature remained controlled and his voice was an icy calm as he spoke.

"I'm glad you two are back. I've just filled everyone else here in, now it's your turn." He paused for just a moment to steel himself.

"Several people who were relaxing here received some disturbing messages from members of the party that left earlier. Many of the messages were unfinished. They all had one underlying theme; however, they were all calling out for help."

Next to her Kamina became tense and angry. Blake sat in the back of Klaire's mind radiating malice. Klaire herself was simply shocked.

"That's terrible; are you sending a search party?"

"Of course, we need to know what happened." Was Jensen's reply.

"I want to send you and Kamina as well."

"Count us in; we're anxious for some action" Kamina said; his muscles bulging even further with excitement.

 ** _"_** ** _Something is off about this."_** Blake said, conversing with Klaire in their shared consciousness.

 _"_ _What do you mean?"_ Klaire asked in turn.

 ** _"I mean they had enough time to type out a message calling for help moron. Nobody had time to do that the time the entire guild fell into that trap."_**

 _"True, but everyone is stronger too."_ She tried to rationalize, but seemed empty even as she said it.

 ** _"Yeah, and the monsters would be too, chicken shit."_**

 _"You think it's a..."_

 ** _"There's only one way to be sure. Gear up."_**

/ Floor 63 dungeon, 5 minutes later/

Aside from the sounds of boots and armor rattling, the corridor was silent. There were no monsters, no other players; it was unsettling even for Blake. What was worse was that the silence seemed to only reinforce her theory.

 _"You really think it was a massacre party?"_ Asked Klaire, who had given Blake control upon entering the dungeon.

Massacre parties, they were the only thing worse than a murder guild. Whenever a bunch of the psychotic bastards got together they decided to have some "fun" with whichever nearby players. Most of the time they would raid their victims' equipment inventory and the stolen gear would either reappear on the market at

a later date or the attackers would wear it like trophies. The parties would also often stick around for any rescue groups that came to help. The probability that the training party was ambushed seemed far too likely.

 ** _"There aren't any other good explanations."_** Was her reply.

The silence continued down the corridors as the search party looked for any signs of their missing comrades. The lack of monsters was a blessing but only increased the eeriness of the situation. The group continued to search every corridor along the way for what felt like an eternity until a laugh more unsettling than the silence cut through the air.

"Well, well, well, looks like we attracted some rescue party maggots after all." "That is so glad to hear Herr Tankina." Replied a creepy voice that echoed off the walls.

The one referred to as Tankina walked out around a corner with a manic expression spread across his entire face. In his right hand was a jagged, bright red sword. Blake was frozen with fear and rage; without even thinking she charged Tankina. Tankina raised the stolen sword and blocked Blake's attack but not without grunting from the force.

"My, my, looks like we have a feisty one here Riese." Tankina said, staring at Blake from across their crossed swords.

"Indeed." Riese's voice echoed off the walls.

 **"Kamina, take the others and find the other one. I'll take care of this bastard."** Blake shouted over her shoulder with her sword still locked against Tankina. Turning her neck to face him; she said:

 **"As for you, I'll kill you!"** Tankina went flying as Blake swung her blade, breaking their standoff.

"Uunnnffffffffffffffffffffff!"

"You little bitch, that actually hurt." Tankina spat as he tried to pull himself together from the huge hit. Blake took his moment of weakness to quickly slam him against the wall and pin him there with her sword through his chest.

 **"Sounds like you've never had to take a hit."** She said with a grin, but became serious for her next question.

 **"Who are you? And I don't mean you're name."**

"Who are we? Why did we kill them? Who else helped us? Is that what you want to know?" Tankina simply laughed as Blake stood there with her sword in his chest.

"You're so pathetic." He said. "You can't even ask the right questions."

 **"And what are the right questions?"** Blake replied, Tankina's voice putting her on edge. Tankina smiled like he was enjoying it all and replied "If I where you I would be asking what's happening to my friends!"

In the back of their mind Klaire panicked _"Oh god, Kamina!"_ As if on cue the sounds of players dying came softly from around the corner. Tankina chuckled gleefully and said

"Well that was longer than I expected."

Blake was about to speak when a certain red blade entered her chest.

"You let your guard down." Tankina sneered. "Too bad, you were actually a bit of a challenge."

 **"Don't forget I stabbed you first."** Blake said, barely getting the words from her mouth. "While it is impressive that your sword is able to drop my health bar, my regeneration skill recovers 1000 points every five seconds. At this rate it's likely that you'll drop dead before I do."

Blake hated that smug grin and that condescending tone; it pissed her off. **"Shut up."** She whispered, letting her rage build. **"There's no way in hell I'm dying. Not until you and every one of your sick friends pay for what you did!"** Screaming at the top of her lungs, both Blake and Klaire forced their body to grab the sword and rip it upward across Tankina's torso. Tankina stumbled backwards, and took a moment to assess the damage.

"Well, aren't you the feisty one. That's too bad. Our syndicate could have used someone of your abilities. Unfortunately now I'm going to kill you." But before he could bring the sword down, small paralysis daggers pierced both of their necks. As they hit the ground, Riese's voice came from somewhere off to Blake's left.

"You fool." He paused and then said: "You know what the punishment for revealing information is!" He roared as he entered into the light. His form was both large and terrifying: easily six-foot two, large shoulders, all cloaked black leather armor and matching trench coat complete with wire rimed spectacles and an officers cap adorned with a swastika.

"You haven't seen what happens when she's pushed beyond their limit. I suspect she might make a good test subject for you."

Riese looked at Blake skeptically but quickly came to a logical decision after surveying the surroundings. "Ahhhhh. Now I see. Then perhaps I will let her live, as an experiment."

Suddenly an ivory spear came flying at Riese, causing him to jump backwards to safety.

"Who the...?"

"That would be me." Blake and Klaire craned their neck to see Jensen marching down the corridor. His expression showed that he was pissed and ready to kill who ever had murdered his friends.

"And you are?" Riese asked trying to mask his surprise.

"I am the leader of Blazing Phoenix, Jensen the piercer!" Jensen announced as his phoenix Jeffrey retrieved his spear from the wall where it had impaled itself. Riese, clearly unimpressed, threw a dagger at Jensen who simply swatted the dagger aside with his spear.

"You don't seriously think I came alone do you?" Jensen said grinning in a way that made Riese think that he had been surrounded. "If you aren't careful I will kill your little friend there." Riese threatened. Jensen calmly walked in front of Blake and pointed his spear at Tankina.

"I think your friend here is also looking a little worse for wear." He threatened in return. Riese glared at him, and Jensen stared him down and said

"Let's call this one even and go our separate ways." With that he turned around; picked her up and walked away. As Jensen carried them away on his shoulder Klaire took the moment to ask a burning question. "Jensen how did you know that I was in trouble?" With a smile over his shoulder he said

"Well when Kamina and the others teleport via crystal to the guild hall, completely naked, a lot of horrible images start running through your head and not all of them are murder related." Klaire stared into space horrified and then commented. "Thanks for that wonderful mental image Jensen. Now if you could just put me down so I can claw my eyes out that would be great." Jensen laughed cheerfully and replied

"come on, let's get back."

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" Klaire asked. "What others? Everyone is back at the guild hall." Jensen said, smiling.

/ Guild hall, 5 minutes later/

Kamina: "Glad to see you made it back, big tits."

Blake: **"Fuck off Kamina."**

Jensen: "Enough you two. Klaire, come to my office. Kamina put some damn clothes on; then come to my office."

Klaire and Kamina: "Fine."

Jensen's office was fairly simple. An oak desk sat in the middle of the room with three chairs around it. Also next to the desk was a perch for Jeffrey. The windows on the right side of the room illuminated the bookshelf dominated left wall and the wall opposite the door held a collection of spears that were all previously used by Jensen in combat.

Jensen: "First I'd like you to introduce me to your friend there."

Klaire: "What friend?" She replied trying to feign ignorance as Jensen stared at her, unamused.

Blake: **_"Give it up idiot, he's already figured it out."_**

Klaire: "Question. When exactly did you figure 'us' out?"

Jensen: "About the time when our shy, quiet little swords-woman was waist deep in golems, swinging her sword and screaming "die fuckers, die!" like a crazy bitch."

Klaire: "Oh..."

Blake: **_"I am nowhere near that level of bat-shit crazy."_**

Klaire: "Yea, that sounds like Blake."

Blake: **_"Really? Did you really just say that?"_**

Klaire: "Could we possibly not tell anyone else?

Blake: **_"And now you're ignoring me. Great."_**

Jensen: "Sure, but it's your job to keep Kamina quiet. Speaking of whom, quit eavesdropping and get in here!"

Blake: **_"Well, at least he finally has some clothes on."_**

Klaire: "Care to explain why you where eavesdropping?"

Kamina: "I wanted to know if our love machine leader was stripping you down or not."

Klaire: "Ok. First you harass me in front of Maricia! Then you make me think you're dead! And now you're harassing me again! What the hell is your problem?!"

Jensen: "BOTH OF YOU, SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!

Now tell me what happened from the beginning. You guys left to search for the training party. You entered the dungeon. Then what?"

Blake: **"Then we searched the place and ran into that piece of shit, Tankina."**

Kamina: "Then crazy here rushed him; at which point we heard Riese's voice."

Blake: **"I'm not crazy!"**

Jensen: "And then?"

Kamina: "Blake told us to go after Riese, which we did."

Jensen: "I'm guessing that didn't go so well."

Kamina: "Nope. Riese got all three of us from behind with paralysis knives and finished us off with bayonets in our backs."

Jensen: "Ok then, explain the teleporting here naked part."

Kamina: "I figured it would be a good idea to have a bit of insurance just in case. Anyway the whole trick revolves around the fact that teleportation and object disintegration have the same animation sequence. So when our armor's' durability hit zero, it vaporized and we teleported out.

Jensen: "So basically the reason everyone saw you naked in the guild hall was that you teleported out of your armor and you had nothing else on. Did I miss anything?

Kamina: "No, that about sums it up."

Klaire: "Wow, I knew you didn't like clothes but I had no clue you were a streaker."

Jensen: "No, no. Kamina isn't a streaker. He's a full on nudist!" He shouted; slamming his foot on the desk and pointing his finger towards the celing.

Kamina: "This is a new all-time low, especially for you two."

Jensen: "It's what you get for being an easy target. Now let's get back to the topic at hand."

Klaire: "Right. So Kamina and the others leave and Blake starts going hardcore on Tankina's sorry ass trying to get some information. But then we hear the others dying, Tankina treats it like a joke and returns the favor by stabbing us in the chest. Finally he tells us that his auto-regeneration skill gives him a thousand points every five seconds."

Jensen: "You've got to be kidding me!"

Kamina: "It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Take Klaire for example. Her battle stats are higher than normal because she thought being able to fight was her best chance of survival. So if someone were to focus all their points toward a few skills, they could in fact have that level of ridiculous power."

Blake: "So having high HP and regeneration could theoretically make you immortal?"

Kamina: "basically."

Jensen: "Well that's just great. What happened after that?"

Blake: **"Then Riese... paralyzed us both... Wait a minute Riese asked Tankina if he knew what the punishment for revealing info is."**

Jensen: "Which most likely means…"

Kamina: "That Tankina did or almost did give away essential information."

Klaire: "Wow, these people must really live in the shadows if revealing any information is a capital offense."

Kamina: "Well that's going to make my life easy."

Jensen: "Well now that we know the whole story we need to decide what to do next."

Blake: **"Isn't it obvious? We find alumni-Nazi and his friends, and take them out of the game."**

Klaire: _"Thanks a lot for the warning, body jacker."_

Jensen: "While I agree that we should focus on learning about these people, I highly recommend that you refrain from killing them."

Blake: **"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're no fun, you know that?"**

Jensen: "Perhaps but let's not forget who saved your life about twenty minutes ago."

Blake: **"Alright, alright, don't let it go to your head."**

Jensen: "Well then, it's decided. Kamina start gathering as much info as possible. Blake; Klaire, whoever you are at the moment, get some rest and then start preparing for round two."

Blake: **"Got it."** Kamina: "Got it."

Jensen: "Good. Oh, and for now let's keep this between us. I suspect that these people keep tabs on players who could tip the scales."

/Main guild hall, 15 minutes later/

Klaire: "Heading out already?" She asked Kamina as she approached him from behind.

Kamina: "Yea. I'm gonna go see Maricia about some new equipment and then start gathering information. I'll grab your sword and ask Jensen to give it to you when he sees you."

Klaire: "Thanks."

Kamina: "Hey, once this is all over, why don't we go on a date?"

Klaire: "Wait what?" her jaw dropping

Klaire: "Wait Kamina..." But he had already left the building.

Blake: **_"Well, that was interesting."_**

Klaire: _"Yea."_

Blake: **_"Come on, let's get to work. Wouldn't want to die before your first date with Kamina right?"_**

Klaire: _"Shut up."_

-Present-

 **"Damn it! Where the hell, are these guys?! It feels like we've been going in circles for ages."** Blake said, frustrated by the search

 _"Calm down Blake, this is probably why they chose this place, it's eerie and confusing. Anyone who didn't know the way would probably give up and go back."_ Klaire replied trying not to enrage Blake further. While Klaire continued attempting to soothe Blake's growing temper, a voice appeared from behind. "Awwww, are you lost? Little bitch." The voice echoed out, showing its owner's spite. Blake turned around and smiled with a reply. **"Well, well, well; if it isn't the prodigal bastard. I thought for sure Riese would kill your ass."** Tankina grinned and laughed like he had nothing to lose. "Riese would have, had the superiors decided to keep me under, shall we say… house arrest."

 **"** **Oh, so you snuck out?"** Blake asked rhetorically. **"Well I'm impressed you actually managed to grow a pair."** She taunted; then faster than the blink of an eye she drew and locked it against Tankina's stolen sword. **"Guess that means we have a few minutes to ourselves before this place becomes too crowded."** Blake said. Without warning though Tankina broke the tie with an incredibly forceful slash and said "I wouldn't be so cocky. You'll be dead before anyone else gets here." _"Watch it Blake, he's raised his strength."_ Klaire warned, though she knew it was useless.

 ** _"_** ** _No shit genius! I've got this!"_** Blake said, charging Tankina. Again she locked blades with him only to be sent flying by a counter strike. Blake stood up, quaking with rage; her health bar in the yellow. She charged again screaming at the top of her lungs **"Die you mother-fucker!"** and as she brought Bāsākā no rongusōdo down for a killer blow Tankina brought his arm up and blocked. _"Oh shit!"_ she thought. _"Blake dodge right!"_ Klaire ordered. Blake jumped back and to the right just as Tankina swung them. **_"Fuck!"_** she thought as her temper cooled. _"Blake, give me control. I'll handle this."_ Klaire said as she ripped Blake out of the metaphorical driver's seat. **_"Like you could beat him,"_** Blake shot back. Klaire smiled as she equipped Kaiyōchōseki and replied _"I deal with a psycho every day, he'll be a piece of cake."_ Blake's mental gaze turned to a glare; not that it mattered any more to Klaire. She charged him, attacking him like a tidal wave. Her actions blended together: every movement gave her an opportunity to stab, and scratch, and slice at Tankina without a single scratch on herself. Tankina became more and more enraged as the fight dragged on; his rage made him more reckless than Blake. When it was over Klaire was standing with her foot on his chest; sword pointed at his throat. Blake was not impressed **_"you got lucky,"_** but she knew luck had nothing to do with it. "Well now, why don't we talk?" Klaire spoke as she recovered her breath. Tankina stared at her and then smiled. Before Klaire could react a dagger pierced the back of her neck accompanied by a paralysis symbol in her status display. Riese's shadowy figure emerged from behind her and approached Tankina. Tankina stood there expecting to be scolded but instead received a full force punch to the face from Riese. As Tankina picked himself up, Riese walk to her side and used her arm to open her menu. Struggling to fight was futile; she could only watch in terror as Riese continued to access her personal menus. His first task was to disarm her, not a difficult task. Secondly he opened his own menu and gave her a gift: a note. After that he leaned down next to her and whispered into her ear "Town is behind you, I suggest you leave." Without a word more he pulled the blade out, grabbed Tankina by the ear, and left in the direction of town. For several minutes Klaire lay there recovering her nerves, and listening to Blake bitch about being so careless. Jensen and two others soon appeared and Jensen squatted next to her and asked "How many times am I going to have to save you?" Klaire replied with a simple "shut up." To which he hoisted her on his shoulder and led the group towards town. In between the teasing Klaire told Jensen a heavily edited version of the fight. Jensen grunted and said "We'll talk more tomorrow after you've rested." Klaire didn't argue but instead passed out.


End file.
